1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an audio signal reproducing apparatus for a device such as a video tape recorder, a video disk player, an accompaniment apparatus and the like. More specifically, the present invention relates to an audio signal reproducing apparatus for use during a slow reproduction period of operation.
Korean Utility Model Application No. 93-14067 and Korean Patent Application No. 94-3058 are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
2. Description of Related Art
A slow reproduction process is performed to reproduce an information signal at a slower than normal speed. A video tape recorder accomplishes slow reproduction by alternatively repeating a still reproduction and a normal reproduction. In an exemplary case, the video tape is successively moved during slow reproduction while the video image is repeatedly reproduced from the same track for a required number of times, the number of times corresponding to the reproduction rate.
In a constant angular velocity (CAV) type video disk player, since one frame of a television image is recorded per one rotation of a disk and since a vertical synchronizing signal is placed on each line in the radial direction, the same track can be repeatedly reproduced for the a required number of times by performing a track jump operation to thereby perform slow motion playback. In contrast, a constant linear velocity (CLV) type video disk player cannot record an integer number of image frames or fields during one revolution of the disk. Therefore, by simply performing a track jump operation as in the CAV-type video disk player, a reproduced image signal becomes discontinuous along the time axis. The horizontal synchronizing signal also becomes discontinuous, thereby causing degraded servo operation. Therefore, the CLV-type video disk player uses one field of video memory and a phase-shifted reference synchronizing signal to produce a slow motion replay image.
During the slow reproduction operation of the video tape recorder or video disk player described immediately above, only the video signal is reproduced. Since there is considerable similarity in terms of time between adjacent image frames, repeatedly reproducing the same video frame is not offensive to the human eye. An audio signal is not reproduced, however, since audio signals seldom have a substantial similarity in terms of time. Thus, repeatedly reproducing the same audio signal produces an extremely unpleasant sound.
However, it is preferable to reproduce the audio signal together with the video image, similar to that for normal reproduction, to thereby permit a viewer to feel the performance vividly.
In a video accompaniment apparatus for generating accompaniment signals for a song, it is necessary to adjust an accompaniment speed depending on a singer's personal taste. It will be noted that the reproduction speed of accompaniment signals should be adjusted accordingly. In an accompaniment apparatus using an audio/video signal recorded in a video tape recorder or on a video disk, a separate apparatus wherein both the audio and video signals are reproduced slowly by a slow reproduction is necessary.